Written 26 Aug 2026. This is a how-to, not a product card.

When the house share disappeared, check the computer

The computer is awake, but Finder or File Explorer cannot see the folder. Check that Samba is still running before you buy a NAS.

The share is a folder the house opens over the network. Samba is the program that serves it. If Finder or File Explorer cannot see that folder, Samba usually stopped, or the firewall hid it. You don't need a NAS for this. Check the computer that already served it once.

Skip until the computer is awake

If ping and SSH fail, fix that first in is the computer still on? This note assumes the computer answers SSH from the couch.

Skip until a share worked once

If you never made the house folder, start with a file share on the computer. This note is for the morning when Finder or File Explorer cannot see a folder that used to work.

Is Samba still running?

SSH from the couch, then:

systemctl is-active smbd

You want active. Some computers also run nmbd, a helper that helps Windows find the share by name. If that service is there:

systemctl is-active nmbd

You want active. If you see the unit was not found, skip nmbd.

If smbd is not active, restart it:

sudo systemctl restart smbd

If nmbd exists, restart that too:

sudo systemctl restart nmbd

Then try the share again from the laptop, the way a file share on the computer taught, or from a phone in open the house share from a phone.

Firewall can hide the share

If ufw is on, it can hide the share. Check:

sudo ufw status

If Status is active, allow Samba:

sudo ufw allow Samba

That is the same rule as turn on a simple firewall without locking yourself out. House network only. Don't forward SMB ports on the router.

Disk full can look like a dead share

Photos stop copying when the disk is full. That can look like the share died. The quick look is see if the computer still has room.

Wrong password is not a vanished share

If Finder or File Explorer asks for a password and the login does not work, the share is still there. Samba keeps its own copy. That is set or change the house-share password. This note is for when the folder itself disappeared.

Still invisible?

Re-check the computer address and the share name from a file share on the computer. On Windows that is \\leftover-address\photos in File Explorer. On a Mac that is smb://leftover-address/photos in Finder. If ping leftover fails but the number still works, give the computer a name that sticks. Don't buy a NAS for this.

What next

Leave it. Skip a NAS. Skip RAID. Skip exposing SMB to the internet. If a restart did not help, that is when something broke, look at the log. Check live connections with see who is using the house share. When you want a second copy, that is a backup of the house folder. Soft restart without a full reboot: restart Pi-hole or the house share.

Skip

• Skip if the computer is off.
• Skip if the share was never set up.
• Skip a NAS.
• Skip RAID.
• Skip opening SMB to the internet.
• Skip a second box for this check.